Over 390m gallons water go waste daily

KARACHI - More than 390 million gallons of water are being wasted in the metropolis on daily-basis due to leakage in the pipelines, tankers and carelessness of the citizens, disclosed Simi Kamal, Chairperson Hisaar Foundation, in an exclusive interview with The Nation here on Friday.
“About 25 per cent of the daily supply of water (600 million gallons per day) is being wasted merely because of dilapidated and damaged pipeline infrastructure and tankers while another 40 per cent is being wasted due to the carelessness of citizens”, she said.
Simi added that poor state of water supply is attributed to the outdated infrastructure. The situation further deteriorated due to lack of coordination between the concerned departments. The unclear definition of surface water channels along with unregulated ground water extraction also affected the system very badly.
It is pertinent to mention here that local citizens get 8-hours water supply during every 24 hours on the average. Dredging of water from storm water channels leaves negative effects on the city’s water supply. The water being supplied to the city is also contaminated because of ground pollution and unsafe disposal. Another reason for the contaminated water supply includes its pitiable infrastructure. It is generally observed that solid wastes and plastic bags, responsible for choking of the drainage system also contaminate the drinking water lines.
Simi Kamal further said that poor condition of water supply system has made the citizens unhappy. It is to be noted here that present population of Karachi is currently 16 millions and will be doubled by the year 2025. It’s alarming to note that the unsafe water kills at least 30,000 people (of which 20,000 are children) each year in the city. The leading cause of child deaths in Karachi is diarrhea, she added.
“It is the duty of our government that it should provide clean drinking water to all. On the other hand, it’s the responsibility of citizens to conserve domestic water, municipal water and industrial water. Another way of water conservation is that sustainable irrigation and watering measures should be taken”, she said.
Chairperson Hisaar Foundation added there is huge potential of water harvesting from atmosphere, which should also be taken into consideration. The technologies used to make water safe for drinking and other purposes are needed on urgent basis and capacity of the reservoirs through planting such species that require less water.